UNROLL
First light on a bare limestone hilltop: a polished ram’s horn of olive oil, stoppered with a wooden plug, rests on a flat fieldstone, a few golden drops on its tip; behind it ridge after ridge of terraced hills fades into the dawn haze, a small hill town far off.

The Book of

1 Samuel Intro

From the last judge to the first kings: the LORD brings down the proud and lifts up the lowly.

Before chapter 1≈ 2 min31 chapters

Images are artistic interpretations.

In 30 seconds

A childless woman prays, and God gives her Samuel.

The boy hears the LORD and becomes His prophet.

Israel asks for a king like the nations.

Saul is chosen, then rejected for disobeying.

David is anointed, and waits for God’s time.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Who wrote it

The writer

Unnamed; drawn from Samuel’s records and others

  • 1 and 2 Samuel were one book in the Hebrew Bible.Jewish tradition
  • Samuel dies in chapter 25, so others finished the story.1 Samuel 25:1
  • The records of Samuel, Nathan and Gad told David’s reign.1 Chronicles 29:29
  • Ziklag “still belongs to the kings of Judah”: finished after the kingdom split.1 Samuel 27:6

How it’s built

Down and up

Hannah’s song2:1–10 · the overtureEli’s house2–4 · brought downSamuel1–7 · the boy wholistenedSaul8–15 · tall, chosen,rejectedDavid16–31 · the heart GodseesHis anointed2:10 · the King tocome

Whiteboard

Hannah sings that the LORD humbles and exalts. Then it happens: Eli’s house falls as Samuel rises, and Saul falls as David rises.

Big themes

Four threads to follow

Where it happens

Valley of ElahMount GilboaShilohGibeah (site uncertain)BethlehemGathEn-gediZiklag (site uncertain)Jabesh-gilead (site uncertain)

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Samuel’s, Saul’s and David’s land

Samuel grew up at Shiloh and judged from Ramah, near Saul’s Gibeah. David came from Bethlehem, faced Goliath in the Valley of Elah, hid from Saul near En-gedi and lived among the Philistines at Gath and Ziklag. Saul fell on Mount Gilboa, and the men of Jabesh-gilead buried him. Ziklag’s site is uncertain.

Meet the cast

Five people to know

Watch for

For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7

Start reading

Question

Quick question

Hannah’s song was sung again about a thousand years later.

Whose song in the New Testament echoes Hannah’s prayer of 1 Samuel 2?

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